Dear friend,
Other than a team of 62 full-time staff, SYFC also has a base of about 250 volunteers. These volunteers include tertiary students, home makers and those who are holding a secular job. Many of them started their involvement as a student in our small groups or events, and later decided that they want to invest their time in reaching other young people. Recently, more and more volunteers who had no prior connections with SYFC have also joined us because of their interest in reaching this generation of youth for Jesus.
Volunteers serve in different capacities. Some meet students for small group bible study and evangelism sessions on a weekly basis, while others help as game marshals, drivers and group facilitators in ad hoc events. However big or ‘small’ each of his or her involvement is, each volunteer is a valuable partner in the gospel work. Which is why in our recent leaders retreat in October, ministry leaders came together to discuss how we can better engage our volunteers.
The retreat started with Mr Lim Chien Chong, our Teaching and Resource Director, sharing insights from John 15:12-17 to guide us in considering the topic of volunteer engagement from a biblical perspective. One important takeaway from this passage is the concern we must have for every volunteer with regards to their spiritual growth so that they can bear fruits that abide, as described in the passage.
With that in mind, different ministries then went on to present what they think would be helpful for their volunteers’ growth and development. For Secondary School and Junior College Ministry (SJM), they will be restarting an internship programme Uni Serve for volunteers studying in the university. This programme will take place from May to July and include foundational modules on the gospel and evangelism, as well as specialised training such as apologetics, hackathons to address ministry challenges, and mission trips.
Polytechnic Ministry aims to develop more volunteer leaders who are critical thinkers. In the light of remaining relevant to their students in this fast-changing time, Polytechnic Ministry leaders believe that they should neither be resisting nor blindly following trends. Hence, they will be engaging Christian trainers to help their volunteers develop good biblical frameworks and how they can evaluate and adjust their ministry plans against those frameworks over a period of time. There are also plans for the leaders to have more dialogue sessions with volunteers to create a culture that encourages constructive feedback and problem solving together.
It is our hope that as we invest in the lives of our volunteers, they then become workmen ready to be used by the Lord in His Kingdom work.
All Glory To God,
Richard Tan
National Director
P.S. Thank you for reading and responding to my Communiques. As the year comes to an end, I would like to make a special appeal to you to consider giving to the staff’s 13th month salary. Many of you have responded generously to this appeal before and we look to God once again to provide the bonus through you. Thank you for your kind consideration of this request.
